Gov. Cuomo’s latest assault on Mayor de Blasio — a “humiliating’’ cut in state aid to the city — is prompting predictions that an infuriated de Blasio will reciprocate by backing efforts to dump the governor in 2018, sources tell The Post.
Cuomo, who has been attempting to recruit a candidate to run against de Blasio in next year’s Democratic primary for mayor, blindsided Hizzoner last week with a state budget plan the mayor said would cost the city some $800 million — prompting a furious de Blasio to vow to kill the plan “by any means necessary.’’
“This is just another step, and a big one, in Cuomo’s campaign to humiliate and weaken de Blasio, building up to running a candidate in the primary next year,’’ said one of the state’s best-known Democrats.
And longtime Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf, who knows both Cuomo and de Blasio well, said there’s a good chance the mayor will go for the governor’s jugular if he’s re-elected, assuming Cuomo sticks to his pledge to seek a third term.
“If you try to kill the king, you better kill him,’’ said Sheinkopf.
“If the mayor survives an effort to oust him by the governor, he may well retaliate by doing the same thing to the governor, backing a good liberal on the left, like [Attorney General Eric] Schneiderman.
“And if Cuomo’s not defeated in the primary, then de Blasio might make a deal with the Republicans to try to get rid of the governor in the fall election,’’ Sheinkopf said.
Republican strategist John McLaughlin predicted that “if de Blasio survives a Cuomo-backed challenge next year, it means that Cuomo will definitely have a serious primary in 2018.”
“I believe, if de Blasio survives, you’ll see a reinvigorated mayor seeking retribution against the governor and he’ll do so by backing Schneiderman or [state Comptroller Tom] DiNapoli, or maybe even running himself against Cuomo in the primary,’’ said McLaughlin.
So far, few influential Democrats have publicly backed de Blasio in his war with Cuomo, although the mayor has received what a source close to him called “strong words of support’’ from other prominent figures in his party.
The mayor is receiving public support from two leading Republicans interested in challenging the governor in 2018 — at least in part with an eye toward winning de Blasio’s help, open or covert, in defeating the governor.
Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, who ran against Cuomo in 2014, and Rep. Chris Gibson of Kinderhook both have sharp ideological disagreements with de Blasio, but both told The Post that they’re disturbed by the governor’s treatment of the mayor.
“The governor’s unhealthy obsession with flexing his muscles over Mayor de Blasio has taken an ugly turn by unilaterally forcing important policy decisions,’’ said Astorino, referring to Cuomo’s plan to cut state aid to the city.
“In true dictator style, Cuomo is doling out punishment on his enemies, but it’s the residents of New York City who are paying the price,’’ he said.
Gibson said Cuomo “proves once again through his budget and other recent actions that his approach to dealing with those who disagree with him or threaten his power is to bully and punish.”
Cuomo has been clashing with de Blasio for over a year on a wide range of issues including homelessness, higher taxes on the wealthy, pre-K education cost, minimum-wage hikes, and efforts to win Democratic control of the Senate.
The battle escalated into all-out war last summer when, at the end of the legislative session, de Blasio blasted the governor as a “game-playing’’ bully more interested in political scheming and personal advancement than the city’s well-being.
The Post reported in September that Cuomo was so furious at de Blasio’s comments that he was personally involved in an effort to recruit a Democratic primary opponent against him — possibly
Senate Republicans, already stressed over their problems finding a candidate in the upcoming special election for the Nassau County seat left vacant by the conviction of former Sen. Dean Skelos, are in an a “funereal mood’’ after Sen. Jack Martins (R-Nassau) decided to seek retiring Democrat Steve Israel’s congressional seat.
Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R-Suffolk) “is furious with Martins, the GOP Senate’s legendary rank-and-file discipline is quickly breaking down, and it’s becoming every man for himself,’’ said a veteran GOP activist.
Adding to Flanagan’s woes, the source said, is the fact that the city’s real-estate industry, long a major contributor to the Senate GOP, has become skittish about contributing to the business-friendly lawmakers in the wake of revelations involving Glenwood Management, the powerful real-estate firm owned by Leonard Litwin, at the corruption trials of both Skelos and former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan).